Traditional Food in Turkey

Ahhhh…. Traditional Food in Turkey is definitely one of my favourite topics 🙂 I love good food and as a person who lives now in Turkey, I get to enjoy this wonderful food every day. This is definitely one of the many benefits of being an expat in Turkey.

But first things first:

TURKISH BREAKFAST

Turkish breakfast is one very important subject and should have a post of its own 🙂 Here is a post dedicated only to Turkish traditional breakfast as it is very important for every expat and visitor coming to Turkey to know what to except when being invited to a festival of food called – Turkish breakfast.

Breakfast in Turkey is a ceremony and a huge part of the Turkish tradition. People meet for breakfasts, eat slowly and A LOT :), enjoy the beginning of the day together, usually on weekends. Of course, never without famous Turkish tea.

Typical Turkish breakfast

Recently I saw a candid camera show here in Turkey, where people are being served breakfast in a restaurant, but without Turkish tea. In the beginning, customers were suspicious about it, but then, in the end, they were threatening waiters to kill them if they don’t bring them THE tea 🙂

So that is how important this subject is 🙂

LUNCH/DINNER

Turkish rice pilaf

There are many varieties of how lunch or dinner may look in Turkey. Usually, there will be soup (çorba), salad, meat, vegetables, bread, rice pilaf or bulgur
pilaf and something sweet (and sometimes fruits) which is almost without exception consumed with Turkish tea.

In the restaurants usually free (ikram) tea is being served and you can drink few cups if you like. This is part of the amazing Turkish hospitality.

Being a guest in a Turkish house for dinner

Meat (kebab)

If a Turkish family invites you for dinner you will eat well for sure. Turkish women are amazing and very talented cooks. There are rules that are followed almost without exception and a guest in Turkey is treated like a king.

You will first eat, as mentioned before, soup (çorba), salad, meat, vegetables, bread, rice pilaf or bulgur pilaf, something sweet, then fruits…and then when you think you will explode from the amount of food you ate, here they come – nuts! Almonds, peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts and pistachios. But somehow you find a place for them too 🙂 Somewhere between sweets and fruits, her highness Turkish coffee will appear. Small, but rich cup of flavour wonders!

Turkish coffee and nuts

When you come to Turkey, especially when you are a guest, try to enjoy all the food your hosts prepared for you, as it is very important for them to know they did everything to make you feel welcomed. Eat without guilt, enjoy this wonderful land, learn from talented Turkish women and enrich your life.

Here on “Expat Women in Turkey” we plan to make many breakfasts and dinners together and also we will have guest cooks who will show us and teach us about all the amazing Traditional Food in Turkey.

Baklava

Please, share your comments on this subject in the comment box bellow or you can contact me directly. Is there something in particular that you are interested in learning or teaching to cook, I would love to get in touch with you.

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